Comment

BLEAK MIDWINTER PENDLE

Farmer Richard Hartley feeds his Swaledale sheep

SNOW BUNTINGS ARE ALWAYS A DELIGHT TO SEE ON PENDLE and this morning's walk with summit regular Martin Naylor produced two including a nice male on the Downham Slope. We didn't walk as far as the second stile so there may have been more and we found a lot of droppings in the dotterel area southwest of the trig point so they have obviously been roaming widely. In fact I heard one over the top of the landslide as I was walking back down. Other birds were few today but included eight golden plovers, a Common Kestrel and several Red Grouse. It was disturbing to hear from the farmer that a recent development is that of night-time sheep poaching, for meat. The one million dogs off their leads are the least of their problems at the moment. I finished earlier than usual today as the mist rolled in from the west.

Comment

Comment

NORTH NORTHUMBERLAND

Purple Sandpiper at Stag Rocks, Bamburgh

ALTHOUGH THE IVORY GULLS HAD DEPARTED THE AREA Rocket and I still had an enjoyable morning hanging around in North Northumberland in the hope that they might return, with around 20 Purple Sandpipers at Stag Rocks, Bamburgh and nine Pale-bellied Brent Geese feeding on the shore in front of Monk's House the highlights. A Long-tailed Duck flew south offshore along with several Red-throated Divers and some hundreds of scoters were in three distant rafts on Skate Road. A Common Stonechat in the dunes by Monk's House and a Peregrine hunting starlings south of Beadnell on the way back south livened up the day. Even Serenity searched the Farne Islands in the hope of relocating the gulls to no avail, however, the mild 11 degrees Celsius probably did not help. Despite the disappointment it is always special to return to one of the most scenic corners of England and a place where I used to go for picnics and play on the beach as a child. I am hoping that we will have another chance of ivory this winter!

Bamburgh Castle from Stag Rocks

Comment

Comment

RIBBLE ESTUARY BAIKAL TEAL

Baikal Teal, with Eurasian Wigeon, on Crossens Marsh at the mouth of the Ribble Estuary

THE BAIKAL TEAL AT CROSSENS OUTER MARSH IS CAUSING A LOT OF EXCITEMENT at the moment and thanks to the previous British records there will not be much debate about its origin. It is associating with the thousands of Eurasian Wigeon in the Marshside area at the moment and looks 'wild' enough for now. We said 'as long as it does not stay until June and start begging for bread!'. It has an odd face pattern with a white vertical stripe on the face but this is apparently within the known range for this bird. Also here were: Great Egret (one miles away on Banks Marsh); Little Egrets that no-one raises their binos to; small numbers of Ruff, Black-tailed Godwits; hundreds of golden plovers and lapwings and a peregrine that spread panic amongst the flocks as it zoomed across Marshside. The Long-tailed Duck had returned to the Junction Pool as the heavens opened and the rest of the afternoon was washed away by rain. I hardly ever mention football scores but Cabaye's goal that sunk Manchester United this afternoon and gave Newcastle United their first win at Old Trafford for 41 years was very special indeed!

Long-tailed Duck usually turns up in late autumn in Lancashire

Storm clouds over Southport

Comment

Comment

PENDLE CALLING!

Pendle Hill above a sea of mist in the Ribble Valley on Thursday had me looking forward to the weekend

A CLASSIC MORNING ON PENDLE STARTED WITH A BUZZARD over the rough pasture at the foot of the big end at dawn. A pair of ravens over the Downham scree slope was quickly followed by a fine Peregrine Falcon fly past. Eventually Martin and I managed to find the Snow Bunting flock by the path at the top of the slope just north of Hookcliffe Plantation. Our attention was drawn to them by a scattering of tiny droppings and not far away two birds popped into view feeding in the long grass, followed by another. Sadly they quickly took flight, towering above us to reveal a total of 14 birds this time, the highest count of the autumn so far. Also on Pendle today were four European Golden Plovers and around 15 Red Grouse. This is about as good a day as can be realistically expected on Pendle in winter, barring something really special. I live in hope and Martin described how he found one of Pendle's three Shore (= Horned) Larks amongst a flock of Snow Buntings on the Downham scree slope. Now that is something!

A fell runner reaches Pendle summit the hard way, straight up the Pendleside slope.

Comment